The present disclosure relates to a refrigerator.
An example of a conventional refrigerator is disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 2010-0122155 (published on Nov. 22, 2010). The refrigerator disclosed therein includes a door that opens and closes a storage compartment in the refrigerator, the door having a double structure including an inner door and an outer door. A housing that forms an accommodation space is provided at a rear surface of the inner door, which comes in close proximity with a cabinet. The inner door also includes an opening that allows access to the inside of the housing. The opening is blocked by the outer door.
According to the above-described double door and accommodation housing structure, a user can minimize cold air in the storage compartment of the refrigerator from being leaked to the outside. However, this structure has certain disadvantages.
For example, when food is accommodated in the housing, the cold air in the storage compartment of the refrigerator is not sufficiently supplied into the housing. Particularly, an evaporator that generates cold air to be supplied into the storage compartment is installed at the rear side of a back wall of the storage compartment, and an outlet through which the cold air is supplied into the storage compartment is formed in the back wall of the storage compartment.
Additionally, the housing is located relatively far away from the back wall. Therefore, cold air may not be sufficiently supplied into the housing. Moreover, food stored in the housing serves blocks the flow of cold air, and therefore, the cold air supplied into the housing may not sufficiently circulate.
Thus, for at least the foregoing reasons, the temperature in the housing may be about 2 to 3° C. greater than the temperature in the storage compartment, e.g., the temperature of shelves provided in the storage compartment. The embodiments of the present invention provide solutions to the conventional technology.